Many people doing forex trading wonder what the best times to trade forex are. This stems from the fact that the forex market is virtually open 24 hours a day (except for weekends).
A quick overview of the trading times is as follows:
GMT
Sydney: 22:00 to 07:00Tokyo: 00:00 to 09:00London: 08:00 to 17:00New York: 13:00 to 22:00
EST
Sydney: 17:00 to 02:00Tokyo: 19:00 to 04:00London: 03:00 to 12:00New York: 08:00 to 17:00
A few observations can be made from the above:
Trading volumes and market activity peaks during the hours when two markets are open simultaneously. Due to this, many traders believe that these are the best times to trade forex, because of the fact that there is higher liquidity, resulting in a trading environment that is most effective. In my experience this is not incorrect, but be careful...
When markets open, the first hour is generally more erratic and frantic and can result in quite volatile trading as market participants digest overnight news and gauge the trading activity of the other markets.
It is also worthwhile to take into account that the US and UK markets account for approximately two-thirds of total trading volumes, rendering this session one of the best times to trade forex in terms of trading activity. The above relates to times for doing day trading, but there are also some times when markets conditions are not conducive to trading, such as when crucial economic data is released and during public holidays in one of the markets.
Many automated forex trading robots incorporate volume and volatility triggers that influence whether a trade will be entered into or not, essentially doing the work for you when to comes to the best times to trade forex.
My experience is that the best times to trade forex are during the UK and US overlapping times and the rest of the US session under normal trading conditions. Furthermore, high volatility times (ie economic data releases) should be avoided, unless you have a specific system that caters for these conditions (there are however, systems available for these conditions). Late trades on a Friday afternoon are also best avoided!
My best advice is to educate yourself as best possible before engaging in live account trading. This includes trading on demo account for at least one to two months to understand the nuances of the timing of forex trades in relation to the various trading times.
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